


Surveillance

by Just_here_for_a_laugh



Series: Barista and the Intern [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DC - Fandom, DCU, DCU (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Barbara Gordon (mentioned) - Freeform, Bruce Wayne (mentioned) - Freeform, Coffee Shop Fic, Cute, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Get Together, Get together fic, Hipster Conner Kent, Hipster Kon-El, M/M, No Angst, One Shot, Pining, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Tim Drake drinks a lot of coffee, Tim Drake has pushy friends, Tim Drake is a barista, Tim Drake-centric, Timkon, coffee shop AU, he loves them though, just fluff, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:08:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23398237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_here_for_a_laugh/pseuds/Just_here_for_a_laugh
Summary: "Tim was really liking this job. The atmosphere was nice, his coworkers were friendly, he loved the smell of the place, and he got all the coffee he could want at a significant discount. Yes he was liking this job very much.That was until he came in and ruined it"Tim is a barista and Conner is a customer that comes in every day stealing glances at him
Relationships: Tim Drake & Kon-El | Conner Kent, Tim Drake & OCs, Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent, TimKon - Relationship
Series: Barista and the Intern [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1692001
Comments: 11
Kudos: 122





	Surveillance

Tim was really liking this job. The atmosphere was nice, his coworkers were friendly, he loved the smell of the place, and he got as much coffee as he could drink at a significant discount. Sure he had to work some early hours, it’s the early risers that need a coffee shop most after all, but half the time he hadn’t even gone to bed anyway so all in all it didn’t make much of a difference to him. He wasn’t half bad at it either; cooking had never been his strong suit but this was different. Mixing the drinks in just the right way felt like art to him, and he was proud every time he finished one. He capped them all off with a flourish and then called each name with a smile in his voice, grinning as he handed off his latest creation to a usually grateful customer. Yes, he was really liking this job. 

Until HE had to come screw it all up. 

It had started one day when Tim was just finishing up an order of half a dozen caramel macchiatos, trying as hard as he could to give them the finesse and careful attention to detail he felt they deserved while also not taking half an hour to fill one order. There wasn’t much point in giving the poor business person who had woken up to their turn in the coffee run cycle a tray of drinks with the first few already cold. Rapidly leveling the foam on the last drink and securing a lid on it, he ignored the whispers of his coworkers trying to get his attention. 

“Psst!” came the sound again, “Tim!”

  
“Just a second,” he hummed back with more than a little annoyance. He put the last cup in the travel tray and called out “ANTONIO!” The business man walked up to the counter with a relieved smile. Tim smiled back. “The double shot espresso is the one marked with a ‘2ex’ and the soy has a flower on the label.” The man thanked him and hurried off to work to greet his colleagues with their morning pick-me-ups. Tim sighed with a satisfied smile and turned back to his friends.

  
“You know soybeans don't have flowers right? They grow in pods like peas?” Evan asked with an amused look on his face.

  
“Whatever,” Tim huffed a laugh, “You try drawing a bean pod on a coffee.”

  
“And soybean plants do have flowers nimrod,” D’amy cut in, flipping her tight dark curls out of her face as she rang up the last person in line and came over to the other two. “Saw one in my ecology class. They're purple.”

  
“Boom!” laughed Tim triumphantly. Evan rolled his eyes.

  
“Whatever. It’s still dumb. And at least I’m not in some boring ecology class.”

  
“Right,” D’amy answered with a smug smile, “You’re only in those cool classes like Intro to Artistic Theory and How to Draw Trees.”

  
“Exactly. And it’s called Capturing Natural Beauty not How to Draw Trees.” Evan shot back. Tim sighed. As much as he would just love to listen to his friends’ weekly science vs the arts debate before finally rolling his eyes and telling them that they are both studying plants and to just shut up about how, he did actually want to know why they had been trying to get his attention.

  
“Alright alright,” he cut in, breaking up the debate, ‘what was so important you tried to call me away from that order?”

  
“Oh right,” said Evan, snapping back to reality. The ginger exchanged a glance with his wiry haired friend, bright green eyes contrasting sharply with her warm brown, and they both grinned. Evan nodded his head towards someone at one of the tables and D’amy whispered,

  
“He’s been looking at you the whole time he’s been in here.” Tim looked over to where the two were not so subtly staring and his heart nearly stopped. Sitting alone at one of the tables by a window was a young guy, a college student like the three coffee shop employees, eating a scone and casting looks over at the barista. His somewhat messy brown hair and his plain black glasses really added the finishing touches to his look: black skinny jeans, black Converse, Nirvana tee shirt, and an open red flannel. It was like he was made to sit in a coffee shop. Only it wasn’t the shop that seemed to hold his attention, but Tim himself. Tim immediately blushed slightly and looked away, earning a soft coo from D’amy. “Awwwe, he likes him!”

  
“No I don’t!” Tim shot back, probably a little too quickly. Evan laughed.

  
“Whatever you say buddy.”

  
“Seriously!” Tim said desperately, “I just, I just don’t like people looking at me.” In part this was true, but that wasn’t the reason that Tim had blushed and they all knew it. Turning around with a grumble Tim went back to making drinks, determined to ignore both Evan and D’amy as well as the boy by the window.

  


  


It went on this way for about a week. Tim would be working, crafting each drink carefully and thoughtfully, only to have one of his friends elbow him and tell him that the boy in the Converse was back. He had lost three latte art leaves to their reckless jabs.

  
“Would you quit it?” He hissed as he turned away from Evan and back to his art, trying to salvage what he could of the damaged leaf pattern. D’amy walked over to them both and leaned against the counter.

  
“Conner.” She said simply, and Tim looked up at her bewildered. “His name. It’s Conner. You’re welcome.”

  
“How did you-” Evan started to ask, equally caught off guard, but she cut him off before he could finish.

  
“He never orders coffee, probably too shy to have to look you in the eye,” she said looking at Tim with a grin, “but I realized if he did we would at least know his name.”

  
“But I didn’t make a coffee for anyone named Conner today.” Tim said.

  
“Duh,” replied D’amy, crossing her arms, “but I realized the same system would work for food too. So when he came up and ordered his scone I asked him if he wanted it toasted, said it was something new we were doing. He said sure and then I just asked him for his name so I could call it out when the scone was done toasting.”

  
“Dames that’s brilliant!” Evan said, eyes and grin both growing. D’amy fluttered,

  
“I know.”

  
“Just don’t let Claire know you put a scone in the sandwich toaster.” Evan added, still grinning. Tim was still standing silently.

  
“You invented a new policy just to get the name of the random guy who stares at me every day?” He asked. D’amy nodded proudly. Tim shook his head and he couldn’t help but smile. “D’amy, you would make a very good detective.” His friends laughed before he told them both to get back to their actual jobs.

  


  


On Monday of the second week, Tim came in and Evan was already there cleaning the coffee machine. “Conner came in yesterday,” he said as he changed out the filter, “He looked pretty disappointed that you weren’t here.” Yesterday had been Tim’s day off.

  
“Huh,” Tim replied, “well that’s… that’s too bad I guess.” He knew without needing to see him that Evan was smiling knowingly. He rolled his eyes and got to work. As the morning went on Tim reflected on the situation and thought that this was getting ridiculous. Conner came in every day, ordered the same thing, sat in the same chair by the window, and stole glances at Tim. Why? Tim could not fathom any reason he would do this, and it was stressing him out. He could feel his gaze on him even when he was turned around to the coffee machines on the counter. He felt suspicion in the pit of his stomach, wondering why Conner was there and why he was watching him, but more worryingly, his stomach was full of something else too: butterflies. It was distracting. His latte art was subpar, his efficiency was significantly decreased, and he had even messed up an order this morning. This had to stop.

  
“Just talk to him, man.” Evan remarked, shattering Tim’s line of thought.

  
“What?”

  
“Conner. Just talk to him. You’re going all wistful awkward giraffe over here and it’s pretty clear why.”

  
“Yeah,” D’amy cut in, “You’re off your game dude.”

  
“Don’t you two ever work?” Tim asked in a tone that suggested annoyance but had very little real heat behind it. Neither of his friends took any notice.

  
“Look, your break is coming up in a few minutes. Just go ask if you can sit down with him for a bit.” Evan nodded in agreement with D’amy’s suggestion and Tim sighed.

  
“Fine.” he said, and waited anxiously for his break. All too soon it was 11:30 and Tim was due for the dreaded encounter. Conner was still sitting at his usual table twirling a pen and looking absently out the window. Trying to ignore his coworkers watching him as he slowly walked towards the small table, TIm awkwardly approached the boy.

  
“Um, hi.” he said. The boy in Converse looked up at him and smiled.

  
“Hey.” Tim motioned to the empty chair in an unspoken question and Conner nodded. Pulling the chair so that his back was turned to his coworkers, and at the same time putting himself very close to the other boy, Tim sat down and leaned forward.

  
“What are you doing here?” he hissed. Conner grinned.

  
“What, I can’t come visit my best friend at work?”

  
“No!” Tim whispered, “Not when I’m undercover you can’t! Are you trying to get this op blown?!” Conner laughed at his friend’s aggravated outburst and leaned in forward to match his posture.

  
“Relax,” he said casually. “Everything is fine.”

  
“You’re gonna blow my cover.”

  
“How?” Conner smiled, “I’m just a guy with glasses in a coffee shop. There’s a million others just like me. Like the look by the way? I thought it’d work better than the leather jacket; you know, decorum and all.” Tim just groaned. Conner snorted a laugh. “Besides, you’re the one still going by Tim. I thought the point of an undercover op was to be someone else.”

  
“The point of an undercover op is to gather intel.” Tim sighed. “Covertly. As in without anyone recognizing you or anyone you hang out with,” he continued, putting special emphasis on the last clause of the sentence. “I’m supposed to be watching the building across the street and seeing what time delivery trucks come by every day. I look out this giant front window from behind the counter and push the button O installed on the back of my name tag every time a truck pulls in. They stay long enough that I never miss them when I’m making drinks and the button is placed so it looks like I’m just straightening the tag. It’s easy. Foolproof. It cannot go wrong. That is unless someone sees us together and recognizes me. And don’t think I haven’t noticed that you sat right by the window so I have to look at you in order to do my job.” Conner grinned.

  
“Yeah yeah,” he waved his hand flippantly, “I know, your plans are always perfect. But look, this one is still perfect. The whole time I’ve been here I haven’t talked to you once. I haven’t ordered coffee, I haven’t waited for you to be off shift, I even came in on your day off so it looked like I didn’t know your schedule.”

  
“Wait, how do you know my schedule?” Tim asked.

  
“I asked Bruce.”

  
“B let you have my schedule?” Tim asked skeptically, knowing that of all people the Batman himself would have understood the importance to maintaining a cover to a strict degree. Conner smiled slyly.

  
“Well, not exactly. I called and asked one day right after I left here if you were at the Manor, said I wanted to show you my new video game. I knew you wouldn’t be cause I’d just seen you and that he’d say so but I hoped he’d tell me the next time you would be over. And sure enough he said you’d be home all day Sunday.” Conner finished his explanation looking more than a little pleased with himself and Tim just put his head down on the table.

  
“You’re a menace.” He said. “An absolute menace.” His best friend laughed and nudged him in the shoulder.

  
“Sit up, your friends are watching and they'll get suspicious.” Tim gaped at him.

  
“Really? Gosh whatever gives you that idea?” The Kryptonian rolled his eyes.

  
“Like I said, I’ve been intent on keeping your cover this whole time. I’ve been completely careful every time I’ve been here.”

  
“But that’s the problem,” Tim replied, “that’s what I don’t get. Why are you here in the first place?” This time, Conner looked away slightly.

  
“I’m just checking up on you I guess.” He said, a little quieter than earlier. “Just… making sure nothing goes wrong. That you’re, you know… safe.” Tim looked at his best friend. He was somewhat taken aback.

  
“Oh.” He said, not really sure where to go from there. “That’s, uh, that’s nice. I guess.” Conner nodded awkwardly. “But it’s been causing a lot of problems.” Tim added to cut the tension.

  
“Oh?” Conner asked, corners of his mouth twitching up just slightly.

  
“Yeah, my coworkers won’t stop bugging me about you.” Conner laughed.

  
“Yeah I’ve noticed. That girl is pretty clever. The toasted scone to get my name was impressive.” Tim snorted.

  
“Yeah that was something. D’amy and Evan both are pretty deadset on getting us together.” Conner hummed in amusement.

  
“They think we’d make a cute couple do they?” He asked with a devilish smile. Tim pushed him lightly and rolled his eyes.

  
“Yeah,” he huffed out a laugh, “with all those flirty looks you’ve been giving they think it’s love at first sight.”

  
“Well, not first sight.” Conner hummed, and Tim looked up to hide a blush. “So,” Conner continued, “that’s been distracting you?” Tim nodded.

  
“Yeah. That, and…” he mumbled, trailing off. Conner raised his eyebrows expectantly, clearly asking Tim to finish the thought. He sighed. “And you.” he finally admitted. Conner smiled.

  
“Me?” He asked in what Tim suspected was purely fake innocence.

  
“Yeah you. With all your… looking at me, and your smiling and whatnot. It’s like I can feel it on the back of my head.” Conner chuckled and leaned ever so slightly further in.

  
“Well, I promise I haven't been using my heat vision on you.” he said, and Tim blushed that much more.

  
“Whatever.” He said, leaning back in his chair. “I should probably get back to work.” His break wasn’t over for another ten minutes but he was afraid that if he sat here much longer Conner would surely notice how he was feeling, if he hadn’t already.

  
“Alright,” Conner replied following Tim’s example as he leaned against the back of his own chair. “Enjoy the rest of your shift.” He said with a smile that looked genuine but also struck Tim with suspicion for some reason he couldn’t quite put his finger on. With one last glance at his best friend he braced himself for the onslaught of questions he was about to face behind the counter and started walking back. Once he got there Even and D’amy were on him like lions to a fresh kill.

  
“So?” Evan asked excitedly.

  
“What happened?” cut in D’amy, who was practically buzzing herself. Tim smiled calmly. They were a lot but he did like that they cared so much.

  
“We talked.” He answered with a slight shrug. The two nodded and looked at him with bated breath. “That’s it!” he laughed, “I don’t know what else you want me to say!”

  
“How about what he said, and what you said,” D’amy prompted.

  
“And when you guys are gonna go on a date.” Evan cut in. Tim shook his head and laughed.

  
“We talked about why he comes to this specific coffee shop and about what I did yesterday I guess,” Tim started, trying to think of things to say without giving anything away. “Oh! We talked about his new video game!” He added quickly, hoping that would satisfy his friends. They looked at him skeptically but they seemed to accept it. “And as for a date, I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

  
“Why not?” D’amy asked, “He’s clearly into you.”

  
“Nah,” Tim said flippantly, “I’m pretty sure those looks are just for show.” He said, trying to hide the twinge of sadness in his voice. “Just messing around.”

  
“I don’t know…” said Evan, looking down. He reached out and pulled a piece of paper out of Tim’s apron pocket and smiled. He handed the paper to Tim and laughed. “I think he may be more into you than you think.” Tim looked at him questioningly and then down to the paper. It was a receipt for a single scone, and on the bottom there was something in black ink. The same black ink from the pen Conner had been twirling earlier. It was a message that read simply:

  
“Tonight. 7:00. Dinner on the roof, next to the bank. See you then.”

  
Tim smiled. The bank was code for the Wayne Enterprises building, a little joke the two of them had. Next to the building was a small family restaurant whose roof was fully covered by the WE building shadow cast from the street light. It was a place they could go together, completely unseen. He looked up towards the window and tried to mask a look of both shock and excitement. Conner merely picked up his bag, stood up, and walked out the door, throwing Tim a wink over his shoulder as he left.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this, I thought it was a nice twist on the classic coffee shop au. Alas I don't own DC comics or anything associated with it. Happy reading!


End file.
